When the IndyCar series returns to Sonoma Raceway every year, it's always a homecoming of sorts for former Sausalito resident JR Hildebrand who now calls Indianapolis home. That concept applies double the weekend of Aug. 23-25, because not only will he be returning home, he'll be returning to the series for the first time since his early crash at the Indy 500. Hildebrand will drive the No. 98 Barracuda Racing Dallara Honda both at Sonoma and the season finale, another 500-mile affair at Fontana on Oct. 19.

Panther Racing released Hildebrand shortly after that last-place finish at Indy, and the 25-year-old driver has been hitting the gym and hitting the phones ever since, scrambling to get back into the series.

The shelf life of IndyCar drivers stranded without a ride can be very short. Take the plight of one of the two drivers who has taken Hildebrand's Panther Racing seat, Ryan Briscoe. Last year Briscoe won the race at Sonoma, but when Penske Racing downsized from three to two cars for the 2013 season Briscoe was unable to secure a quality full-time ride.

Hildebrand has been talking to new boss Brian Herta, co-owner of Barracuda Racing with Steve Newey, throughout his rise to the IZOD IndyCar Series.

"I talked to Brian after I won the Indy Lights championship," Hildebrand said from Indianapolis. "I've always had a lot of respect for him, and he's obviously been continuing to grow his team since then when he was just looking to be full time."

In a strange way, Hildebrand and Herta will always be linked. It was Herta's team, then known as Brian Herta Autosport, that stole the Cinderella label from Hildebrand when their driver Dan Wheldon passed Hildebrand seconds before the end of the 2011 Indy 500. That day provided a renaissance for Wheldon and a future for Herta's team. Sadly, Wheldon then lost his life in the season finale.

And Herta can identify with Hildebrand as a driver because what appeared to be a career first victory was snatched from him on the last lap at what was then Laguna Seca. In perhaps the most famous pass in the track's long history, Alex Zanardi threw his Target Racing Champ Car four wheels off in the dirt at both ends of the Corkscrew to snooker a dumbfounded Herta.

Herta said after the race that it was the "worst day of my life." But his personal defeat inspired him to come back and win the race twice thereafter. And those were the only two wins in Herta's Champ Car career.

Barracuda Racing is expected to expand to two cars next year, so Hildebrand knows that these two races will be a critical dress rehearsal for 2014. But setting the long-term goals will have to wait until October.

"It became a situation where we wanted to just get the deal done to make sure that we get some races in right now," Hildebrand said of short-term and long-term negotiations. "There's been a kind of back-and-forth in just trying to iron out the smaller details of what's going on. For sure I'm really looking forward to working with Brian."

Hildebrand will get his first chance at the IndyCar open test next Wednesday at Sonoma Raceway that will be free to the public.